


A Dark Evening

by Zaragoz_Rex



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Dark Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24016771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaragoz_Rex/pseuds/Zaragoz_Rex
Summary: A regular evening for Emperor Palaptine. From the voices of rumored ghosts, to visions of another realm beyond realms.
Kudos: 13





	A Dark Evening

_ The Imperial Palace, Coruscant (14 BBY) _

Inside the gigantic, labyrinthian halls of the Imperial Palace, there walked a single man. He was dressed in a simple black attire with the whole up to cover his rather deformed face. He has been wandering these halls for around an hour or so, as he typically did whenever he was bored. He made a turn to another hallway that had windows out to the outside city. The setting sun cast an orange glow to the halls as he embraced the almost warm, yet cold light. Brushing his hand against the base of the window, he stared, almost hypnotized by the setting sun over the horizon. It never failed to amaze him how beautiful the city planet of Coruscant looked even when he's been here for around twenty years or so. He's been here for so long, it was practically his homeworld at this point.

_ "Get out," _ a voice from nowhere called. The figure instinctively turned his head to see if the source of the voice was behind him. There was nothing. Just an empty hallway. Then again, these hallways weren't so empty were they? He's had five years of knowing they weren't truly empty and barren. Besides the high ranking Imperials who lived here, and the many Royal Guards who patrolled the halls and corridors, there have been whispers both in and out of the palace that it was haunted… By the spirits of those who lived here before.

The palace was once something else five years ago. A temple where an ancient religious group made their home here to study secrets about some unknown energy that binds all living things together. A place where keepers of peace practiced the arts of self-defense with blades made of plasma and heat. A place where they practiced their hypocrisy, lies, while slowly falling into hubris and pride.

The palace was once the Jedi Temple. It was renamed after the end of the Galaxy spanning Clone Wars. Near the end of the war, it was revealed that the Jedi tried to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and were also conspiring against the galaxy itself. For example, on the jungle planet of Felucia, one of them wanted to poison the water supplies to cull the native populations. On Mygeeto, they were after a powerful crystal, wishing to harness its power for some sort of powerful superweapon. On Saleucami, they were seeking for precious minerals and fuel sources, even going so far as to displace the farmers from their homes and poison entire ecosystems to get their resources.

That's what he told the public at least. The day he declared the Republic to become the Empire. His Empire. The Galactic Empire.

Palpatine smiled at such memories. All those lies and the public ate it up like starving peasants to scraps of food. He walked away from the window and back to the giant halls of the former Jedi Temple. Specifically the halls where the quarters of the Jedi lived. He always loved visiting these halls, because he could always vividly imagine Jedi being crammed into rooms with no way of escape before being overrun and shot down by the clones they fought with for years.

_ "You killed us,"  _ another voice said behind him, though Palpatine didn't bother turning around to find the source. The voices often came in varieties of accents, tones, pitches, and languages. He understood them all perfectly and he enjoyed hearing them, truly. Whether they are merely his mind playing tricks on him, or actual spirits wandering these halls, trying to manifest in a now Dark Side rich environment, he welcomed the voices. Even the echoed screams of the ones being killed. Those ones always put a smile on his face.

_ "Go away,"  _ another voice said, though this one sounded like a child's voice. He almost always forgets that there were children here. Such a waste of potential that they were trained in the Light and not the Dark. He often fondly imagines scenarios where all the Padawans survived and were trained in the Ways of the Dark Side. An army of Inquisitors at his disposal, peering into every corner of the galaxy, instead of just a dozen or so fallen Jedi that continued to drop like flies. Oh well.

———

Inside the libraries of the Temple, he often checked up on the top technicians to see if they had any updates on retrieving any lost data from when that senile fool, Jocasta Nu erased a thousand generations worth of knowledge not long after Order 66. So far, nothing was recovered. The only thing recovered was a message from the pathetic Obi Wan Kenobi warning any and all surviving Jedi to stay away from the Temple. He often replayed that message to see and feel his apprentice's fury. He and Kenobi had quite the history together and Palpatine always knew which buttons to press.

"My Lord," said a rather meek voice behind him, thankfully not some ghost, but one of his leading technicians instead "we have deciphered some old Jedi Holocrons. Two contained maps that had secret hyperspace routes, both leading to Illum. And at least three messages from the Old Republic."

"Excellent work," Palpatine responded, a smile on his face as he rented his hands together, "see if any more can be found and make sure that the technicians don't slack off. I'm not very forgiving of any form of laziness."

The technician bowed his head with an almost trembling nod as he turned to get back to the Holocron decipher room. Palpatine noticed the fear. Not just in the head techie, but the many others as well.

Good. Fear was one of the many things that comprised the Dark Side. Feeling such fear radiate when he was simply in the room with others was almost intoxicating to Palpatine. He truly enjoyed when others were afraid of him. They should be.

———

Deep beneath the lower levels of the Imperial Palace, there was something forgotten that was built underneath the foundation of the former temple. It was a temple devoted to the Jedi's enemy, the Sith. In their hubris, the Jedi built the temple on top of the Sith's in hope that their so-called light would weaken the Dark's strength and snuff it out completely.

They were wrong. Over the course of millenia, the energy of the Dark Side seeped out slowly but surely. It slowly corrupted the Jedi and made them go against everything they stood for. The Clone Wars was the final nail in the coffin for the integrity of the Jedi. 

Inside the Sith Temple in the far depths of Coruscant, Palpatine often conducted many twisted experiments far away from the public eye. Dark Sciences, Sith Alchemy, and even Sith Sorcery. Secrets lost to time that only the most devout practitioners of the Dark knew about. He devoted his entire life to studying these forbidden arts and why should he let such knowledge go to waste by not practicing?

Chanting some ancient words borderline untranslatable to even the most advanced protocol droids, the Sith Lord fired lightning from his fingertips into the bowl atop the stand, the crackling of the lightning igniting a blue flame that didn't seem to emit any form of heat whatsoever. It was as cold as the wind that blew in the Sith Temple.

Moving his hands upwards, manipulating the fire with the Force, and closing his eyes, he took in the cold flames to his face in an attempt to see behind the veils of time and space. A realm that he only heard legends of in many Sith and Jedi texts: The "Chain World Theorem" or "The World between Worlds" as some called it. He wanted to see it. To see if the rumors were true. That if you were in there, you could manipulate all reality, change destiny itself, and even play with time as if it were a toy.

The Sith Lord had a Force induced vision that sent him hurtling out of the city planet. He saw other systems past by, entire planets and stars became blurs as the vision seemed to take him beyond the borders of the Galaxy. He saw countless other galaxies pass by, becoming blurs as well.

Faster he went.

Millions, maybe trillions of galaxies seemed to pass as he seemed to reach the end of it all… A black void that engulfed the light! Yes! Could this be it? Could this be what he was looking for? Finally, he reached the void as everything seemed to slow down to a halt...

He saw nothing. 

It didn't make sense. He had a mural that was supposedly a portal that connects to the realm, he mastered Dark Side Magics that even the witch Mother Talzin and the Ancient Sith Lord Naga Sadow had trouble learning. Why did nothing work!? Something was missing, he knows it! 

He'll find it one day. He just needs more time. At least that's one of the many things he has. Though for how long, he cannot say…

———

Palpatine often wondered if he was spoiled compared to the Sith that came before him. He rose to political power rather quickly, created an army in the span of ten years, and managed to get the Galaxy to flock to his rule in just under three years.

Meanwhile, the Sith before him scurried in the shadows like alley rats, scrounging up any form of power they can get, big or small. He remembers a few records mentioning how difficult it was to remain hidden for so long, especially for the Masters with Apprentices who were far too bloodthirsty for their own good.

Maybe he was just lucky, somehow. Maybe it was always destined to be him who dominated the Galaxy. He does recall when his own Master, Plagueis, foresaw the Sith plan culminating sooner rather than later. It wasn't long after that, he killed his Master in his sleep.

The imbecile should have known better than to let your guard down with a powerful and sadistic person such as himself.

Palpatine looked outside the throne room window, admiring the twilight sky of Coruscant. The city's lights shined bright, an excellent contrast against the dark blue and purple sky. Constant speeder traffic provided a dull, yet hypnotizing movement that almost put him to sleep. Though, he always kept his guard up and always sensed even the tiniest bit of hostile intent from across entire city blocks.

It was as if he never truly fell asleep. Unlike his master.

Tapping the armrest of his throne out of boredom, he seemed to be waiting for something or someone to come to him, already. He had just received word that a Jedi that survived Order 66 had caused quite a bit of trouble across several systems. From Zeffo, to Kashyyyk, and now he has been told that this Jedi had managed to escape the Inquisitor Fortress of all places. The Ninth Sister was reported missing and the Second Sister was killed.

Two Inquisitors. One Jedi. They couldn't defeat him. It filled him with such rage and embarrassment, that the room slightly shook. He could have screamed and blown apart the entire top of the spire, but he was far more composed than that. He wasn't like that pathetic Zabrak he called an apprentice.

Just as he was about to drift into his thoughts again, the door to his throne room opened, interrupting him. He knew who it was and didn't have to turn around. His advisor, Mas Amedda.

"You're late," the Sith Lord said in a flat tone, not even bothering to turn around and acknowledge him, nor even ask why he was late.

"Apologies, My Lord," said Mad Amedda as he pulled out a holoprojector from his robes and slid it onto the ground, "you have a message from the Grand Inquisitor, Sire."

Palaptine rolled his eyes as he turned his throne to face Amedda and the hologram that flickered on, revealing the Pau'an next to Purge Troopers, all kneeled at Palpatine's presence. The Sith only scowled at this. He wanted Vader. He didn't care about the Inquisitors. It was Vader's job to punish the Inquisitors for their poor performance and his job to punish Vader for teaching them poorly. But this time, he needed to punish them all. He was almost lost in his growing fury when the Grand Inquisitor interrupted him.

"My Lord, please forgive us for this unexpected-"

"Silence," Palaptine interrupted, his disdain can be heard in his voice, "where is Lord Vader?"

The Pau'un slightly trembled with his answer, "he is busy dealing with the staff in the fortress, my Liege."

The Sith Lord rolled his eyes at this response. Clearly they all needed some form of a… talk, "Inform Lord Vader that I will be heading to the Mustafar system. I will deal with all of you for this failure personally," Plapatine motioned for Amedda to prepare his shuttle for launch as he stood up from his throne, "who is the Purge Trooper in charge?"

One Purge Trooper stood up, without shaking surprisingly, "I-I am, my Lor-"

**_CRACK_ **

His helmet went backward, along with the direction of his head. A sickening sound was heard as he collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud. The Grand Inquisitor and other Purge Troopers then instinctively grabbed their necks in pain as an invisible force grilled their windpipes, threatening to crush them at any opportunity.

"As I've stated, I will be at your Fortress to deal with you all. Allowing a Jedi to escape… Such a colossal mistake must not go unnoticed."

The Troopers and Inquisitor only nodded their head in agreement, every word and breath couldn't escape their lips. It was not long before the grip on their throats was finally released and they all took deep breaths on the ground.

"Worthless," Palpatine muttered to himself as he crushed the holoprojector on the ground with the Force, heading out of his throne room and towards the elevator.

_ "Why do you hurt others?"  _ said a voice from behind him, another child-like voice again. He looked behind him, instinctively, seeing nothing yet again. He entered the elevator with a smile on his face, pressing the button to go down the spire, and he decided to take a rare opportunity to respond to the so called spirits,

"Because I can. Who's going to stop me?"

The elevator closed and even behind the metal doors, his laughter was heard…

**Author's Note:**

> May The Fourth be With you all.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my first story published here!


End file.
